


No Man's Wife

by theladyscribe



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Odyssey - Homer
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Angst, F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-04
Updated: 2013-10-04
Packaged: 2017-12-28 08:48:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/990071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theladyscribe/pseuds/theladyscribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I asked the shuddering oracle, whom I heard but could not see, whether Odysseus would come back to me. 'No man will return to you, but not for a long while,' she said, and all my hope fell to the floor." // Pepper knows what it is to be Penelope. // Missing scene/missing POV from the battle sequence in The Avengers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Man's Wife

**Author's Note:**

> Title and summary text are from Zachary Mason's _The Lost Books of the Odyssey_.

Pepper knows what it is like to be Penelope. She nearly lost Tony to the Cyclopes of terrorism, and then to the Scylla and Charybdis of alcoholism and radiation poisoning. There have been too many sirens in their lives to count. And now, just when she and Tony have found their perfect rhythm together, she is watching him sail into the gaping maw that hovers above Manhattan.

She closes her eyes and sees her life from this moment on:

She runs Stark Industries on her own, a feat not much different from when Tony was still present. Now, though, she is beset on all sides by suitors who wish to buy out her share, who want to insinuate themselves into her life and into her company. She will demur with all of them, quietly remind them that Tony is not, in fact, dead, simply on extended, unexpected leave.

"How is he supposed to return," they’ll ask, "when we all witnessed the sky swallow him whole?"

And as she did when Tony was lost in the desert, Pepper will say, “Until his body is lying in state, I will not step aside.”

And though the days will be long and the nights even longer, she will hold fast to this hope until he returns to her.

A hand brushes hers, and Pepper opens her eyes, only to see Iron Man falling, falling, falling.

She looks away, unable to bear it.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is loved.


End file.
